(JustPatriots.com)- The Internal Revenue Service conducted rare audits of two former high-ranking officials in the FBI after they were fired by former President Donald Trump.
Now, the IRS’ head is asking a watchdog group to investigate the circumstances to see if there was any wrongdoing.
On Wednesday, The New York Times reported that James Comey, the former director of the FBI, and Andrew McCabe, the one-time acting director of the agency, each were audited by the IRS after Trump let them go.
According to The Times’ report, the audits that were being conducted on the two former officials are referred to internally as “an autopsy without the benefit of death.” It’s the most invasive of all the audits that the IRS could conduct on an individual taxpayer.
The odds of even one individual being selected for this audit is only one out of every 30,600, according to The Times report. The odds of two specific people such as Comey and McCabe both being selected are even slimmer.
This is what has raised the eyebrows of people at the IRS. As the agency said in a statement this week:
“The IRS has referred the matter to the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration for review. IRS Commissioner (Charles) Rettig personally reached out to TIGTA after receiving a press inquiry.”
Comey and McCabe both heavily criticized Trump, which has led some to believe the former president may have pressured the IRS to conduct these audits. In 2017, Comey was removed from his spot at the FBI, only four months after Trump entered the White House.
McCabe, meanwhile, was fired in 2018, only two days before he was set to retire.
As The Times report pointed out:
“Mr. Comey was informed of the audit in 2019s later, the I.R.S., still under the leadership of a Trump appointee after President Biden took office, picked about 8,000 returns for the same type of audit Mr. Comey had underdgone from the 154 million individual returns filed in 2019, or about one in 19,250.
“Among those who were chosen to have their 2019 returns scrutinized was the man who had been Mr. Comey’s deputy at the bureau: Andrew G. McCabe.”
For his part, Trump has denied any wrongdoing in the matter — or any involvement at all. A spokesperson for the former president said he didn’t have any knowledge of the situations at all.
Rettig, who is serving as the current commissioner of the IRS, also denied any involvement or knowledge. He released a statement through the IRS that said:
“Commissioner Rettig is not involved in individual audits or taxpayer cases; those are handled by career civil servants. As I.R.S. commissioner, he has never been in contact with the White House — in either administration — or I.R.S. enforcement or individual taxpayer matters. He has been committed to running the I.R.S. in an impartial, unbiased manner from top to bottom.”
